No One Does it Better Than the Birds of Prey
by Mimozka
Summary: Birds of Prey AU set in the future. What good is finding criminals and putting them down if you can't put them away? - Good thing Sara and Felicity know a certain District Attorney who can help. Individually, they are known as Canary, Devorah and Athena - but but together they are the "Birds of Prey". Full summary inside. Rated M for graphic descriptions of violence.
1. Prologue

**Full Summary: **_When Sara Lance is finally free to leave the League of Assassins, it is not without conditions. The most important of which is: Canary should stay far away from Green Arrow or else she will bring the Demon's wrath on her city. Enter Felicity who is banned from Team Arrow activities due to her pregnancy. She reminds Sara of a time where she used to protect the city without the help of Green Arrow and that it is time to do so again. Yet the two of them are not enough - what good is finding criminals and putting them down if you can't put them away? - Good thing they know a certain District Attorney who can help._

_Individually, they are known as **Canary**, **Devorah** and **Athena** \- but together they are the "**Birds of Prey**"_

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**A/N: Hi there guys! So I've been trying to avoid writing a multi-chapter fic because I am super duper bad when it comes to regular updates. But this fandom broke me.**

**I give you a Birds of Prey AU set in the future, in a universe where season 3 of Arrow doesn't exist, everything else up to season 3 is business as usual. But considering it takes a good few years from present day, there will be liberties taken on my part.**

**Enjoy, and let me know what you think, how I did and if you'd be interested in more.**

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"So what you're saying is, you're not affiliated with the League, but you can't act against them either?" Felicity asked between bits of her deep dish veggie pizza.

Sara nodded mutely before taking a sip of her soda. She looked up at Felicity then and smiled, if somewhat sadly. "Yup." she took another sip."That was the deal and the only way Ra's is going to let me live. According to him, I know too much for them to let me roam free, but on the other hand killing me would seem like a waste of resources," she paused and let out a humorless chuckle "His words, not mine."

Felicity rolled her eyes at that. "Sounds like a premium human being to me."

The next couple of minutes passed in silence, with both women focusing on their food.

"So what are you going to do now?" Felicity asked.

Sara shrugged nonchalantly, but Felicity could tell she was bothered by her inactivity. She knew Sara's type. She had one at home and she was currently mad at him, because Oliver had decided to lock her out of the Foundry (using her own security against her, too!) ever since they found out she was pregnant. Needless to say, he was sleeping in the guest bedroom.

Felicity knew Sara needed to be out there, that she needed to make a difference, because frankly, so did Felicity. While she was nowhere near Sara's orbit of martial arts mastery, over the years - out of precaution and pure necessity - she'd learned to hold her own. She could normally handle things until Oliver and the boys got there.

"You know, I remember a time where this kickass woman in black roamed the streets at night and kicked criminal ass" Felicity observed, in her best attempt to sound casual.

Sara laughed at that, her friend was too obvious. "What are you thinking, Brainy Smurf?"

Felicity grimaced at the nickname Sara had given her during a drunken night out about 5 years ago.

"I'm not sure I want to tell you now, Tweety." she huffed.

Sara smiled indulgently at her "Yes, you do. You're practically doing your best impression of Barry from when he's vibrating through walls." she pointed at her friend who was indeed bouncing slightly in her seat.

Felicity remained silent for a couple of moments more, just to spite Sara.

"Since both our schedules are suddenly lighter - "

Sara cut her off before she could finish "Felicity, no. I have no desire to be on the receiving end of Oliver's wrath. I'm not taking you with me!" she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.

Felicity frowned, "Who said anything about taking me with you?" she exclaimed "I was going to say that you'd be out there kicking bad guy butt like you know and love and I'd be here, in the office doing what I do best. I know I'm crazy for choosing to fight crime for a living rather the nine to five job, but I'm notthat crazy!"

"You're cute." Sara chuckled and then proceeded to dodge a piece of crust Felicity threw at her.

"You're funny." Felicity retorted.

Sara winked at her and took a bite of her pizza.

"I was thinking I could do for you what I do for Oliver, only from home, so this way you win because someone always has your back, I win because I'm not going to go insane all day doing nothing and Oliver wins because I'm not on Arrow duty." Felicity smirked and raised her glass of red grape juice (the closest thing she could have to actual wine) at Sara.

Sara laughed again. "That's a technicallity if I've ever heard one."

Felicity shrugged. "He should have specified. My life my choice."

Sara's expression sobered up. "It could still be dangerous, you know, I won't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you or my niece."

Felicity smiled softly at her friend and reached to take her hand. "We'll take every precaution and anyone who wants to hack our network will see that the signal is coming smack in the middle of the Gobi desert."

Sara opened her mouth to reply, but Felicity cut her off before she could say anything. "We'll use code names only. No personal information. Strictly business and that's that. You'll be Canary, obviously, and you can call me Devorah." Felicity said with the tiniest hint of pride in her voice.

Sara could tell she's been itching to let that gem out for a while now. "Why Devorah?" she asked.

"Devorah the Seer is a really strong woman in the Bible. I thought it was fitting what with me being Jewish as well as acting as your eyes and ears. Kind of like an oracle." Felicity explained.

Sara smiled, trust Felicity to put sentimental value into codenames.

"I was thinking about Artemis, mostly because it would fit our cause of protecting people and because ironically enough she's the goddess of childbirth, but then I figured someone might decide I work with Green Arrow and Co. and take his beef with me out on them." Felicity rambled.

"Devorah it is." Sara nodded, pushing her now empty plate away.

"You're the one who gets to tell Oliver though," Sara added causally after a moment.

Felicity balked "Why me?!"

"One, this thing is your idea. Two, you're the only one who can handle his tantrums. Three, I'm not the one who can bribe him with copious amounts of sex and then casually mention it between orgasms."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Felicity nodded with a chuckle. "So you're in, we're going to do this?" she asked.

"I'm in."

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**A/N: Thank you very much, to anyone who gave this a try. I have an idea of where I'm going with this in my mind and I hope you'll like it. I'll let you know about update schedules and such once the month is over (it's pretty hectic right now). To those of you who came here for Laurel - she's coming, just hang in there. We've just set up the scene, the fun is yet to be had. Please let me know how you liked the story.**

**~Anna**


	2. Setting up

_**All characters belong to their respective owners.**_

_**This chapter is another sort of filler, I guess. No action yet, but there are some last minute preparations that need to be done, and some conversations that need to be had before we start with the ass kicking.**_

_**Nevertheless, enjoy.**_

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It took Felicity two days to convince Oliver that her and Sara's plan was completely safe. She walked him through the security measures they were about to take several times - both the real and cyber ones. She explained to him her plan in full tech speak, not sparing him one detail. She also did not hesitate to remind him that with the two of them about to have a baby they couldn't run around saving people as much as they used to, so any and all help is appreciated. Roy and Diggle can handle things for a while, and while Sara couldn't help them directly, she could make sure they had less work to do. Felicity concluded the speech with the usual - "My life. My choice.". Oliver relented and Felicity threw herself into redesigning her home office into a mini version of the Foundry.

Between her equipment arriving, installing it, customizing it to fit their needs, picking someone to replace her for the duration of her maternity leave in Queen Consolidated, and the joyous side-effects of being pregnant - it took Felicity about a week to set everything up.

Of course, Sara and Oliver offered to help, but Felicity was adamant that none of them should be touching the tech, because they'll just mess it up. She'd also hidden the tech she'd ordered specifically for Sara, because her friend was too curious and sneaky for her own good and these babies were supposed to be a surprise.

On her front, Sara was also running errands in preparation for their new undertaking (no pun intended). First, she went to see Sin and let her know that she would be staying in Starling for the foreseeable future. To say that the girl had been happy to hear that would have been an understatement. Then Sara asked Sin if she wanted to move in with her. She could use a roommate that wasn't her sister and frankly, Sin could use a decent looking home instead of living in that abandoned, rickety house with no heating.

When that was done with she went to see her dad in the precinct. They'd gone out for lunch (he'd wanted to go to their regular diner, but Sara would have none of it. Laurel had told her about his heart problems, so she wasn't going to let him consume food that would make them worse). She'd spared him the details of her newly found freedom, not wanting to worry him when there was no need to, but she did mention that the Canary will be making a return to the streets of Starling, so it would be nice if Quentin's men stayed out of her also mentioned that should he ever fail to reach Sara, Quentin should contact Felicity instead.

Sara wouldn't say that her father was pleased with her decision, but he understood her need to do something, anything she can. She was her father's daughter after all. Besides, if he told her not to, she'd just go and do it anyway, as she has since she was old enough to walk. Quentin figured he might as well keep and eye on her just in case she needed help.

Once that was done, Sara had gone to the supermarket to get some food for her and Sin, the girl ate for 3 sometimes, and then she met her downtown so that they could go pick out some furniture and essentials for Sin.

The next day, Sara met up with Laurel for dinner, she was glad to see that her big sister had found a purpose again. She looked healthier, smiled more and Sara even dared to say Laurel looked a tad happier than the last time Sara saw her. But as Laurel grilled her for stories and adventures, Sara could see the all too familiar, restless spark in her sister's eyes.

They've discussed her desire to "suit up" - both Sara and Quentin were vehemently against it. Sara understood where this desire was coming from, she knew her sister always wanted to leave her mark on the world, make it better, but she also knew that Laurel was not meant for Sara's world and its darkness. Laurel was strong, there was no doubt about it, how can she not be after everything she's been through in the past ten years, after the life-long training their father had instilled in them both. Yet, doing what Sara did, and Oliver too, it took a different kind of strength. The strength to be able to make the hard calls; the strength to withstand pain without giving your enemies the satisfaction of hurting you; the strength to take a life, or multiple ones, without hesitation and without mercy; the strength to twist yourself into whatever monster you need to be in order to survive; the strength to face your ghosts and demons at every single moment in your life and stand tall.

Sara did not want her big sister going down that path, because one she did there would be no turning back.

Still she knew that with Sara back in town and the rumours about the Canary watching over Starling again, that were bound to start circulating once she and Felicity started working together, would have her sister restless again, so she offered Laurel a compromise.

If Laurel wanted to help, she could do so by lending her and Felicity a hand where the legal route is concerned - be it prosecuting the criminals they catch, providing them with information, warning them about possibly dangerous political shenanigans etc. and in exchange Sara would teach Laurel to be a better fighter, so that she would never have to worry about her enemies catching up with her.

"You are braver than I am, Laurel, in many ways." Sara told her as they were walking on the side walk towards the small parking where their vehicles were.

Laurel had scoffed at that, stating that she was hardly braver than Sara who willingly took numerous assailants at once and came out on top.

"But I fight injustice behind a mask and under an assumed identity." Sara countered. "You do that everyday, in the courtroom, no mask, no alias. There are different kinds of bravery, Laurel, not all of them require you to dress in leather and wear a wig." Sara had smiled at her and squeezed her big sister's hand.

Just before they parted ways for the night, Sara had hugged Laurel and whishpered into her ear "We are not the masks we wear, Laurel, and we need people in our lives that don't weak one. Ollie has Felicity, Roy has Thea, and I have you."

These words would stay with Laurel for years to come, but at that moment all she did was squeeze Sara a little stronger and press a kiss to the top of her head, just like she used to when they were younger "And you always will."

**To be continued…**

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_**ahh crap I just gave myself major Lance sisters feels with that last bit...**_

_**Anyhow, I would love to hear what you thought of this. Any and all feedback is more than welcome.**_

_**This story now has a banner. If anyone is interested, you can see the link on my profile. Please credit me if you use it anywhere.**_


	3. Pretty Birds

_**whoa! This chapter got away from me. I did not expect it to turn this long. Or be this graphic.**_

_**Beware there is graphic violence in the second part of this chapter.**_

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According to the SCPD the attack occurred around 11 PM in the underground garage of the Starling Plaza Hotel. The victim is a Jane Doe in her early twenties. The murder of this young woman, as well as the two before her seem to echo the series of attacks Starling was subjected to some years ago by the so called "Starling City Slasher" -...

Felicity turned off the news channel and sighed. This person whoever they was the reason she was currently stuck with a very grumpy Oliver working his anger out in the gym. When the second attack had happened Felicity told Oliver that he had a week to bring this person to justice because after that, it was her turn.

Felicity was a competitive person. She didn't like to lose. Especially not to Oliver.

She'd just reached for her phone when it started ringing.

Sara.

Super convenient coincidence since Felicity was just about to call her.

"Are you psychic?" Felicity said as way of greeting.

"You watched the news, huh?" Came Sara's dry reply.

Felicity remained silent, because what else was there to say?

"How's Ollie?" Sara asked when Felicity didn't answer her.

Felicity sighed. "Hopefully not breaking any bones from the force he's hitting that dummy with"

Sara was about to laugh at that but she caught herself and the sound came out as a weird strangled cough instead.

"I'll be with you in twenty. These killings are going to end. Tonight." Sara stated, all humour gone.

The line disconnected.

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Two days after her dinner with Sara, Laurel received a very big bouquet of flowers delivered to her home. To say she was surprised would have been an understatement. The bouquet consisted red peonies, her favourite flowers, and the came straight with a pot which meant she could grow them in her apartment instead of watch them whither. The thing was, there were exactly four people on this earth who knew what her favourite flower was - her parents, her sister, and Tommy. Make that three.

She signed the sheet for the delivery and then went back into her living room and placed the pot on her coffee table.

It took a couple of tries, but she eventually found the card she was looking for. It was a plain white envelope that once opened revealed a bright red card with a big black bullet that dissolving into a flock of birds. But along with the card there was something else - a Bluetooth.

**Welcome aboard, Athena, we're glad to have you on our side.**

**~ D.**

**PS: Press the red button on the Bluetooth if you wish to contact 's a secure, untraceable line.**

Laurel wasted no time in turning on the device and attaching it to her ear.

There was a soft crackling sound and then a voice came through.

"Finally," she sounded awfully familiar, but Laurel couldn't quite place her. "I was beginning to think the delivery boy got lost. I was just about to call and pester them." the woman on the other side of the line paused to take a deep breath. "How do you like your flowers, Athena? A little birdie told me they were your favourite."

It took Laurel a moment to gather her wits. She'd been in many strange situations in the past, but this one might just take the cake. At least all those years ago when she was using that encrypted cell-phone she knew it was the Hood at the other side.

"Athena?" she asked, unable to help herself.

The voice on the other side chuckled, "I figured it was fitting - the goddess of wisdom and justice - considering what you would be doing for us as well as your line of work..." there was a momentary pause. "You can pick something else if you don't like it."

Laurel thought it over for a moment and smiled, it did fit her.

"Athena it is." She conceded. "And what do I call you? Dee?"

"The name is Devorah, actually." her companion answered. "Well not really, but Canary and I agreed to use aliases only to protect our identities from people who may hold a grudge..." again, there was a pause "Not that they would be able to get into my secure network, because I happen to be the tech wizard around here and I'd sniff them out before they hit enter."

And just like that, Laurel knew who she was talking to. Of course. There weren't that many computer geniuses in the city. Let alone crime-fighting computer geniuses who were on a first name basis with her sister.

"Breathe, Felicity." she chuckled.

"No real names, Athena." Felicity's voice was suddenly devoid of all humour. "Ever."

"I thought you said the line was secure and untraceable?" Laurel countered with the slightest hint of confusion in her voice.

"Oh it is," Felicity assured her "But you can't be too careful. We can't afford to take any risks, Athena - "

There was a loud beep on her side of the line and Laurel could hear her jump in her seat.

"I look forward to working with you and well, getting to know you better. I'll let you know when we have a case." Felicity told her.

"I'll keep the Bluetooth close," Laurel replied. "Oh, and Devorah, I look forward to helping you, too."

There was a muffled curse from Felicity's end, that Laurel was pretty sure was not directed at her and then the line disconnected.

Well... That was bound to be interesting.

* * *

"How my little niece?" Sara says as way of greeting when Felicity opened the door to let her in.

"Or nephew." Felicity added.

Sara smirked at her and reached for Felicity's abdomen "Pretty sure it's a girl. The universe has a sense of humour when it comes to Ollie." she laughed.

There was just a slight hint of swelling at Felicity's stomach. Sara rubbed it gently.

"You feeling okay?" She asked her friend as Felicity led her towards her office.

"Baby's giving me a lot of morning sickness for a pomegranate seed, but other than that I'm ok." Felicity replied with a smile, her hand falling to her belly.

"Pomegranate seed?" Sara snorted, cocking an eyebrow in wonder.

Felicity laughed back heartily, "Oliver downloaded this app that tells you how big your baby is in comparison to different fruit in each week of the pregnancy. Apparently at six weeks, the baby is the size of a pomegranate seed" she explained.

Whatever Sara was about to say next was cut off by an alert on Felicity's computer.

"That would be Laurel, I asked her to send me all the info they had on this guy," she said, hurrying to her brand new orthopaedic chair and spinning into position.

And indeed there was a file waiting for her, containing all the information the SCPD was able to gather on this guy. It wasn't much, but what little there was was enough to make Felicity's blood boil and she was sure that Sara would fly off the handle.

No wonder Oliver spent so much time beating the shit out of those dummies in the past week.

"Donald Finch. In his late thirties, six foot one, has a history of human trafficking, theft, several aggravated assaults. He was serving a sentence in Iron Heights but was released two months ago due to good behaviour. No medical records are available." Felicity read aloud. "He's been seen around all the crime scenes but the police doesn't have the evidence to convict him. Last known address, an apartment building on the corner of Liberty and Fifth street."

Sara's fists clenched and she gritted her teeth. Human trafficking, huh? She'd downright enjoy bashing his head in. She turned on her heel to leave and suit up, but Felicity called out to her and stopped her before she could leave the room.

"I've got some gadgets for you on the third shelf. I gave Cisco that sonic device of yours and he played around with it some. He says he made it better and these should have stronger vibrations with longer lasting side effects. I'll keep digging for his medical records, I'll let you know as soon as I know more, keep your comm on." Felicity said, without looking away from her computers.

Sara nodded mutely and grabbed her new tech. She pressed a quick kiss to Felicity's head and left the office.

She passed by Oliver in the hallway and they exchanged a quick nod and pat on the arm after which Sara left Oliver and Felicity's place and went home to suit up.

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Sara killed her motorcycle's engine two blocks away from the address Felicity gave her.

"Devorah, I'm on site" she said into her comm, having already turned on her voice modulator.

"Copy that, Canary. I count five heat signatures on the top floor which probably where Finch is. There's an emergency staircase on the west side of the building, you can use that to get onto the roof and I don't have to tell you what to do from then on."

Sara chuckled, but it came out like a mangled cough due to the modulator "Oh, I'll give him the VIP treatment, don't you worry," She said darkly as she started running towards the western side of the run-down building.

"Play nice."

"Never"

Sara examined her surroundings carefully. Building was five stories high, there was no back exit, a lone street lamp that seemed to barely cast any light and a large dumpster to the far corner of the brick wall that surrounded that side of the building and made it look like a small backyard.

She ran straight towards the dumpster and leapt onto it, another long jump and she was balancing herself on the brick wall. Sara went back a little, so that she would have more opportunity to gain momentum, then she broke into a run and flung herself towards the fire escape. One swing, two, three, and she'd managed to pull herself up the metal contraption and started climbing her way up to the roof.

Once she reached the roof and the door leading to the stairwell, she had to roll her eyes, because who leaves the emergency exit unlocked, in the middle of the night, in such a bad neighbourhood?!

She was about to head in when Felicity's voice crackled through the comms

"Just got my hands on the medical files. Be careful, Canary, that guy has anger and control issues..."

Sara let out a loud hiss. That was a nasty combination. Oh well, he wasn't the one with anger management problems.

"I'm going in." she said and then muted her comm, knowing that Felicity didn't need the stress of hearing her grunt and crash into things, nor did she need those lowlifes howling in pain in her ear.

She expanded her bo staff and went in.

Halfway down the stairs she could hear voices coming down from the end of the corridor beneath her. She stilled, listening quietly so that she could assess the situation.

All men.

Two of them sounded pissed off. One was bored, another was restless and the fifth was trying to play peace maker.

They were as distracted as they can be.

Sara rolled her eyes. Amateurs.

She approached the apartment door, walking on the balls of her feet, staff at the ready.

she was about to kick the door in, when she remembered her tech. She didn't really need to use it, but she knew Felicity would be curious as to how well it worked, so with her friend in mind, she took one out.

Hell, maybe it would do her job even easier.

She took a few steps back, ready to kick the door in when her comm let out a series of quiet beeps. A signal that Felicity needed to talk to her.

"What?" she whispered as quietly as she could. Even though they wouldn't have heard her, she didn't want to give up the advantage of surprise that she had on them.

"I dug around some national databases. May or may not have hacked the Witness protection system... Finch would kidnap young girls and sell them to the highest bidder. Those that didn't cooperate ended up like the girl on the news... you might want to ask around for the other girls he has captured... There were several disappearances, according to Athena, all young girls in their twenties, unconnected, squeaky clean records."

Sara let out a sound that awfully resembled a growl.

"He'd be lucky if he can breathe by the time I'm done with him," she replied.

With that she clutched her canary cry device in one hand and her staff in the other as she jogged forward and kicked the door down with one solid kick.

Next she rolled the device to the centre of the room and raised her staff - ready to fight.

The device emitted a high pitch and Sara revelled in watching them clutch their ears and scream in pain, dropping glasses and whatever they were holding to the ground.

The sound of glass hitting the floor was amplified when the windows shattered into tiny shards and flew across the room.

One of the goons looked up from the floor and noticed her.

He was huge - his arms as big as Diggle's and he was easily taller than Oliver.

This bigger they are - the harder they fall.

Sara smiled sardonically at him and tilted her head, challenging him silently.

He charged at her with a roar and she dodged him, causing him to run straight into the hallway and bump into the bannister, he would have toppled over had he not had the presence of mind to brace himself.

His roar had alerted the others to her presence, though and as much as Sara wanted to throw him off the fifth floor, she had to deal with the other four henchmen.

The sonic device died down.

Show time.

Sara swung the staff forward hitting skinny goon in the ribs and then swung it again, spinning with it and aimed another hit at Mr Cologne-a-lot. She ducked to evade the punch from henchmen #3 and used her staff to sweep him off his feet.

Henchman #4 got to her with a kick to the base of her spine, sending her flying forward and landing face first on the floor.

The floor covered in glass shards.

The cuts stung across her face and palms. Tiny glass pieces cut into the sleeves of her costume.

But the pain only made her focus sharper. She got up, dusting herself quickly and charged at the goon who had kicked her, a high kick to the jaw and a sucker punch to the stomach made him stagger back and fall to the ground. She smirked when she heard the crunch of his jaw against the sole of her boot.

Sara aimed another kick at skinny goon's chest, using the wall to her left to gain momentum. She kicked him in the ribs and effectively got him out of the way. She slid on her knees towards her staff and picked it up again.

"Kill her!" roared the fifth man in the room that had remained silent so far.

Sara's vision zeroed in on him - slimy, slicked back hair, sunglasses and a cheap suit.

"Finch." she growled and twirled her staff, bringing it in position to strike.

Before she could get to him, the two remaining thugs cut off her road to him.

One from the front and one from behind.

Sara turned just in time to hit him in the face with her staff, sending him a couple of steps back.

Then she brought her her attention back to his buddy.

She could take both of them, but not with the staff. She was going to need both her hands.

She took the staff apart and attacked who turned out to be Mr. Cologne-a-lot.

She was genuinely surprised how he was even breathing from the amount of pungent cologne he'd sprayed on himself.

Three swings later he was groaning on the ground. Sara aimed a kick at his diaphragm and the groaning stopped.

However, focusing on one goon had left her open for his friend.

She realized her mistake when she heard the bottle cut through the air. She didn't have enough time to dodge the hit.

The empty glass bottle hit her full force in the side of the head.

Sara staggered, her weapons falling to the ground.

Her vision blurred and the world seemed to be spinning. She could feel the blood trickling down her temple.

Fuck. Cleaning the wig was going to be a bitch.

Asshat aimed a chair at her, but Sara managed to dodge it.

"Hit me once, shame on me," she said, giving him her best sadistic smile, "Hit me twice, in your dreams." With that she kicked him in the gut and lunged forward, wrestling him into a headlock. Her right boot ended up aiming a vicious kick at the back his knee.

The crunch that echoed through the room would have made a lesser person throw up. The man's scream made her break into a malicious grin.

She tightened her grip around his neck and pressed against his trachea until he went limp in her arms.

She let him go and he toppled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Sara wiped the blood off her face and turned to face Finch who was not as intelligent as the media gave him credit for because he was still standing in the room in his cheap suit. A smarter man would have been long gone.

She picked up on half of her staff on her way to him.

He started backing out towards the corridor and for a moment Sara let him.

She let him delude himself into the hope that he could escape her.

Then she reached towards the side pocket of her pants and pulled a small knife.

She aimed and let it fly.

It hit him in the calf.

Finch fell to the ground with a wail.

Sara walked over to him slowly, calmly.

He flinched when she stood over him, one foot hovering over his wound

"Where are the girls?" she asked him coldly.

"Go to hell!" he spat at her.

Sara snorted. "Wrong answer"

She lowered her boot to the side of his wound and pressed on it.

Finch screamed louder.

Sara smiled.

"Where are the girls you kidnapped? The girls you were planning to sell like cattle?!" she growled at him.

Finch looked at her with all the spite and fury he could muster.

Unfortunately, for him, looks could not kill.

He spat hat Sara's leg in contempt.

"Go to hell!" he grunted.

Sara tilted her head "Been there. Done that."

She lifted her leg from his wound and aimed it at his throat.

He gulped.

"I will not ask again" She told him.

Finch glared at her with all the contempt he could muster.

Sara pressed her foot against his throat.

He choked, bringing his hands up to try and remove his foot but she smacked them away with her staff.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" she roared, pressing harder, but not hard enough to make him pass out.

"B-b-basement," his answer was barely above a whisper, but Sara heard him.

She aimed her staff at his head and swung, hitting him with everything she had.

The man crumpled against the wall, unconscious, and he would remain like that for a while.

Long enough for the cops to get here.

She went back to the main area and picked up the other half of her weapon and headed downstairs.

"Devorah, I have a location on the girls. Have Athena send the cops to pick up the trash and call an ambulance." Sara told Felicity when she switched her comm on again.

"Ambulance? Are you ok?"

Sara looked down on her hands and grimaced at the headache she was developing.

"Just a few scratches. Nothing a bottle of whiskey and some stitches can't cure. Sin can handle it." she replied "Don't worry, Dee. I'm fine. The ambulance is for the girls. Just in case."

"On it"

Sara reached the basement and stilled, listening to for any noises that might lead her in the right direction.

Sure enough, there was some rustling coming over to her left followed by someone making shushing noises.

Sara knew what rats sounded like - those wasn't rats. She also knew what terrified women in cells sounded like - most definitely that.

She ran towards the source of the noise.

"Stand back!" She shouted as she reached the door.

It took her a couple of kicks but eventually she managed to kick the door down.

Sara turned off her voice modulator and tucked her weapons back into the holsters on her waist.

"I'm not here to hurt you, "she said gently, raising her hands in front of her. "I'm here to take you home. It's over." she explained, when the three girls flinched and huddled closer together.

"The cops should be here any moment now, there's an ambulance en route as well. Let's get you upstairs..."

"Finch.." One girl objected. She looked no older than twenty two. Sara's heart twisted in her chest.

"Will never bother you again," she couldn't help the menacing growl that came out of her throat. "Let's go. I'll stay with you until the cops get here."

She led them up the stairs, making sure to walk slowly and turn back every now and again to make sure they were alright.

"When you get to the precinct, ask for Captain Lance, tell him what happened, he will make sure you are looked after and safe." Sara told them just as they reached the entrance of the building. She could hear the sirens in the distance.

"I have to go," Sara told them and turned around to head back upstairs.

"Why are you helping us?" a second, black haired girl, called out after her.

Sara turned on her heel, halfway up the staircase, and smiled. "No woman should suffer at the hands of men."

With that she disappeared.

* * *

"Athena, this is Canary. Bastards are incapacitated, and there will be 3 girls with the Captain for you to talk to. Work your magic. Nail this piece of shit." Sara told her sister through her comm, the minute the police cars disappeared around the corner.

"Copy that." Came Laurel's response. "You okay?"

Sara grunted as the cuts on her hands burned from the friction of sliding down the metal fire escape. "Peachy".

"Canary,"

Uh-oh, the 'big sister voice'.

"I'm fine, Athena, I swear." Sara sighed, mounting her bike. "Take care of these girls."

She didn't wait for an answer, but disconnected the comms.

She couldn't wait to get home and fall onto her bed.

* * *

Laurel delivered her closing argument with a flourish, her voice completely commanding the courtroom. She was in her element - precise but compassionate, laying down the facts and extracting what she wanted to hear from the witnesses with a finesse that few of her colleagues possessed.

Persuading the three girls to take the stand had not been easy, but Laurel had always been a people's person. The gentler sister out of the two. The more compassionate. Eventually she managed to persuade two of them to testify under an assumed identity and the promise of witness protection.

The two witnesses, plus the bundle of evidence Felicity had sent her while Sara was busy "taking out the trash" [Sara's words] were more than enough to put Finch behind bars again, this time for twenty five years with no prospect for parole or early release.

The moment Finch was taken away, Laurel turned back from her seat to look at the benches.

Felicity and Sara were sitting next to each other, smiling proudly at her.

She smiled back and approached them.

"I think a celebratory lunch is in order." she told them with a smirk.

Felicity's eyes lit up. "Your nephew is craving Italian," she said, standing up and pulling Sara up with her.

Sara sighed and rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Well, whatever my niece wants, my niece shall get. Lunch it is."

* * *

_**I hope you liked where I took it. Since this was their first case I wanted it to be about defending women, since that was what Sara was all about when she was first introduced. As always opinions are more than welcome, I'd love to hear what you think. Don't be shy. I don't bite.**_


	4. Task Force X part 1 - Assemble!

_**Hi guys, sorry it took me a while to upload, I've been unsure of what to do with this chapter but 3x21 of Arrow solved that problem for me. After I saw how badass Nyssa, Lyla, Thea and Felicity were in that episode I needed to have more of that so I wrote some. **_

_**This chapter got about 3 times longer than what I expected, which is why I decided to split it into 2 parts. Part 1 is the set up and assembly of the team and part 2 is going to be the actual mission. I will do my best to upload sooner, however I am officially in Finals Season and I need to pack for my flight home, so my free time is not much.**_

_**There are some speculations about the future that's been thrown around by cast members, some easter eggs from the comics and some inventions of my own. **_

_**I hope you enjoy it and as always I am more than happy and grateful to know what you think.**_

_**Happy reading.**_

_**Warning: FEELS. A LOT OF THEM. EVERYWHERE.**_

* * *

"Come on, Laurel, is that all you got?" Sara asked with a laugh, blocking her sister's attack and sending her flying forward towards the training mats.

Laurel managed to catch her footing a moment before it was too late. She turned around to face her sister with a downright feral expression on her face, not unlike the ones she used to make when they were children and Sara took her favourite Disney tapes without asking and then refused to give them back. Only she wasn't eight anymore and her sister was currently in an "assassin trainer from hell" mode.

"I know for a fact Dad taught you better than this. I know _you_ know you can do better than this." Sara continued baiting her.

Laurel charged at her again, letting out a growl of frustration. She was having a bad day today and Sara's aggressive teaching methods were not helping at all. They were only making her mood worse. She aimed a high kick this time, only to have Sara block her again by catching her foot and slapping it away as one would do to a fly. As soon as she had both feet on the ground again, Laurel attacked once more, this time with a punch. She was absolutely certain that it would have landed high on Sara's left cheek had she not dodged it seconds before Laurel's fist made contact. Sometimes she wondered if Sara could read minds... It really wouldn't surprise her if she could, not after all the meta-humans running around Central City.

In typical Laurel fashion she did not let that failure deter her, stubborn _was_ her middle name, after all. Her hand slid across her forehead, wiping the sweat that was dangerously close to dripping into her eyes, then she took position again.

She blocked out Sara's teasing, closed her eyes and focused. At the task at hand. At her rival. She focused on imagining someone else standing in Sara's place in hope it would motivate her better. She opened them again and in Sara's place she saw Dowling, the new insufferable attorney in their office that acted all high and mighty because he came from D.C. His entitled behaviour and constant contradiction have been driving Laurel nuts. With him in mind, Laurel attacked, putting everything she had into every punch, kick and deflection. It didn't matter if her hits landed or were blocked, she just kept going, kept looking for weak spots to exploit.

At last she managed to land a kick to Sara's right side after deciding to switch from punch to kick in the last moment. It had the desired effect, Sara stumbled backwards and lost her footing.

Her sister groaned, one hand pressed to the spot Laurel had just hit. She rubbed her ribs and looked up at Laurel, who was towering over her with a proud smile.

"Took you long enough," Sara teased her "it was a good one though. Lesson of the day: use your head, not your emotions."

"I don't know..." Laurel grinned back at her "I just wanted to make you shut your big mouth," she retorted cheekily without missing a beat.

Then she held her hand out for Sara to take.

"Whatever Laur," Sara said, pulling herself up with Laurel's help. "You have always fought with this," she tapped her heart lightly "instead of this," Sara's hand moved to repeat the motion on her head, only before Laurel knew it, Sara had her in a headlock and was giving her a noogie.

"Ugh, you suck," Laurel told her as she wriggled her way out of her sister's hold.

Sara shrugged, still laughing. "That's what you get for being slow today."

Laurel glared at her, half-heartedly.

"Now, let's hit the showers, Stinky, and then it's milkshake time and you can tell me all about your bad day."

* * *

Lyla walked into Queen Incorporated with the air of authority befitting her position and headed straight for the security desk. The security guard looked up from his monitors as she came to stand in front of him.

"Can I help you, Ma'am?" he asked with a slightly bored expression, thinking she's just another business woman.

"I'm here to see Mrs. Queen." Lyla told him "And no I don't have an appointment." She supplied as soon as he'd opened his mouth, knowing exactly what his next words were going to be.

"I can't let you up there if you don't have an appointment, Ms. -?" the guard paused, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Agent," Lyla corrected him "Diggle."

The guard's eyes widened. "Diggle as in -"

"As in the Head of Security, yes." Lyla cut him off, impatiently, time was of the essence. "Now are you going to give me a pass or do I have to call my husband?"

The guard gulped. "I'm going to need ID." he said.

Lyla flashed her A.R.G.U.S. badge. That seemed to do the trick, Lyla didn't know if it was because he recognized the name or simply because of her connection to John... On a second thought it could have been her face, she was never very good at hiding her emotions. Either way she had a visitor's badge in her hands fifteen seconds later.

She thanked him quickly and then headed straight for the executive elevators. Lyla rummaged in her bag for a moment and pulled out an access key.

Once they'd gotten the company back, Felicity, Digg and Oliver sat down and made a plan as to how to make the building more secure in order to avoid past mistakes like Rochev. Digg had been in charge of securing the building and was given the position of Head of Security, while Felicity had taken it upon herself to hack-proof their servers and virtual network, so that another Palmer wouldn't be able to hack them for sensitive information. She had also been in charge of employee background checks and profiling. Oliver had been putting the Queen charm to maximum level and was wooing back and reassuring as many investors as possible, when he was not studying for his online business degree.

One of the improvements was an executive-level-only elevator that only the three of them, Thea, Roy and herself had access to.

On top of that they had Team Arrow to deal with (although Roy and Thea definitely picked up the slack on that end). Honestly, it's a wonder Felicity had time to get pregnant in the first place.

The elevator dinged and Lyla shook the errant thoughts out of her head. She was not here for a social call. Time was of the essence.

She rode the 35 floors up to the top floor, gathering her thoughts and figuring out how to best present them to Felicity. It's not that Lyla was afraid she would turn her down, they've been through far too much together in the past four years for her to have to worry about that. It's not that she thought Felicity couldn't handle what she was about to ask of her. The woman had a spine of steel _and _she dealt with the two Queens and Roy on a daily basis. That's not to mention all the psychos she'd come across. Felicity Smoak was nothing short of remarkable, Lyla knew. Which is exactly why she'd settled on her.

She made a note to stop by John's office on her way back when she passed his door (the glass walls had been replaced by actual ones, there were only so many times they could afford to replace them without raising red flags. Cement walls were much harder to break.).

Two dozen strides later she was flashing her badge at Felicity's assistant (as a mere courtesy, thank you) and entering her office.

She found her friend hunched over a bunch of paper.

Lyla cleared her throat to alert Felicity to her presence. Felicity looked up on her third try.

"Lyla!" Felicity exclaimed. "What are you doing here? I mean, I'm happy to see you, I just didn't expect to. John didn't mention you'd be stopping by this morning. Come in and save me from the reports from hell, please, because if I have to look at one more quarterly report, I swear I'll-"

Lyla took pity on her and called her name. It did the trick.

Felicity stopped and took in a deep breath, her shoulders sagged in relief.

"_Thank you!"_ she said, "I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones or the stress, but I just couldn't stop talking. Which I am going to now." she pretended to zip her mouth and throw away the key, not unlike her 3-year-old god daughter, Andy.

Felicity motioned to the sofa to her right and both women headed towards it.

"Do you want anything to drink?" Felicity asked her once they both settled down.

Lyla shook her head. "Not here on a social call, I'm afraid." she said ruefully.

Felicity sobered up immediately and held up a finger for Lyla to hold her thoughts. She got up from her seat, drew the blinds and let her assistant know that she'd be unavailable until further notice. The only people allowed in were Oliver, Diggle or Thea and Roy if they stopped by. No one else. No matter what. Then she turned off the intercom, and locked the door to her office on her way back to Lyla.

Had the situation not been so sensitive, Lyla would have made a joke or two about Felicity developing paranoiac tendencies.

"I need your help," Lyla said as soon as Felicity settled in her seat, cutting to the chase. "You've heard of Markovia, right?"

Felicity nodded.

"Many years ago it used to be a monarchy, but due to some unfortunate circumstances the royal family was destroyed. The Queen was murdered and her son was framed for her murder and was chased out of the country. The Russians assimilated them into the USSR. Once the Union fell apart, they formed a government and are now attempting to function as a democracy. Their relationship with the U.S. is shaky at best..."

"I suppose Waller's favourite pastime of bombing cities didn't help matters?" Felicity interjected.

Lyla smiled weakly at her. "No, it definitely didn't. I still have no idea how she managed to avoid and international conflict." Lyla shook her head sadly. "Some days I wonder if maybe - "

Felicity cut her off quickly, taking Lyla's hands in hers "Hey, none of that. You are doing an excellent job as head of A.R.G.U.S. You've done so much good in such a short time, Lyla. Don't sell yourself short. And no offence to Waller, but you take into account the means _and_ the endgame, which is more than I could say for her. We're all very proud of what you've accomplished. Especially John."

Lyla exhaled loudly and closed her eyes as Felicity's words washed over her.

"Thank you." she smiled at her. "It means a lot coming from you."

Felicity waved dismissively at her and grinned back, dimples and all.

"Anyway," Lyla shook her head. "It seems Prince Brion - that's the son that got framed for murder - had a son of his own. One that is currently, in Markovia, attempting to lay claim to his legacy."

"What do need me to do?" Felicity asked.

"I've already run extensive background checks on him and he seems like a good guy, or rather there's nothing in his file to suggest that he isn't. His father lived here in the States, so Philip - the son - grew up in New York. He graduated from Cornell and has a master's in Environmental Engineering. He's been leading a quiet, downright boring life, until his father died and he learned the truth about his origin. Now he wants to take his rightful place and help his country, who's been fighting one rebellion after another for the past twenty-four years. The thing is with him in charge, our relationship with Markovia is likely to improve by a great margin, so naturally, the States will support his claim. However, the government wants nothing to do with us or him. I have some spies over there and they reported that there are rumours of assassination going around." Lyla explained.

Felicity nodded. She had an idea where this was going.

"The extraction and prevention order came from very high up the food chain, Felicity. This is a top priority right now and it's classified. I haven't even told Johnny. I am heading the extraction team, but since Amanda's downfall I don't really have anyone that I can trust so explicitly for such a sensitive mission. I'd ask Oliver and the Team, but with you pregnant there's no way he'd leave your side and I'd never expect him to. I just don't know what to do. The clock is ticking and I'm running out of time. This is not a one-woman-mission." Lyla sighed.

Felicity smiled at her in thanks and squeezed her hand again.

"First of all, coming to see the resident genius was a good move. Second of all, of course I'll help you. I don't know if John told you, but Sara and I have our own thing going on, right now, since my _delightful_ husband 'banned' me from Team Arrow." Felicity said.

Lyla let out a genuine laugh at that. "Ah yes, Johnny told me about it. Oliver was apparently angry that you outsmarted him."

Felicity smirked, her eyes glinting with pride "Serves him right for making decisions for me and trying to outsmart the genius."

"So you think, Sara might know someone who can help?" Lyla asked.

Felicity nodded "You know them too, actually. One third of the group is right here." she pointed at herself.

"Lyla, I am the best hacker you know. Sara is one of the most lethal people _I _know, and I'm married to Oliver Queen. She's also been an assassin for _years. _Her experience will be invaluable." Felicity hurried to explain when she saw Lyla was about to interrupt her. "You said it yourself, you need a team, and you're too damn noble to renew the Suicide Squad. So why not make a new one? _Task Force X 2.0?" _

Felicity smirked when she saw the intrigued expression on Lyla's face.

"Two field operatives and a distant hacker is not what I had in mind though." Lyla objected.

Felicity's smile widened. "I actually have a couple more people in mind. Sara's girlfriend just so happens to be an assassin of international calibre and very good at her job, from what I hear. She's helped us in the past. Plus, I think she won't turn down some quality time with Sara. Last but not least, Thea. I know she's young, but she's come a very long way, and honestly I think she needs a break from the testosterone in the Foundry. Roy's been complaining that she and Oliver butt heads a lot. This way, she gets a break and the boys get to go smash bad guys to their heart's content. So you have two assassins who can handle the prevention of the assassination attempt and then there's you an Thea who can handle the extraction. You know Markovia and Thea can find a way out of any situation. Then there's me, who would be overseeing everything and directing you from my home office."

Lyla was quiet for a few moments, thinking over Felicity's suggestion. Putting her trust in Nyssa al Ghul was not going to be an easy thing for her, but on the other hand, Felicity trusted Sara with her life. And Thea... Thea was so young still, Lyla didn't want to subject her to such sights. Then again the young woman was Moira Queen's daughter - a worthy one, too. On the other hand, Thea had a very overprotective older brother.

"Task Force X 2.0 it is." Lyla conceded and smiled at Felicity. "Thank you."

"What about Oliver though? I doubt he'd be okay with Thea going to a war zone, essentially." Lyla asked as an afterthought as she got up from the couch and headed for the door.

Felicity's expression was downright diabolical. "I can handle Oliver."

Lyla shook her head. "I honestly don't know how you do it."

"I have my methods... and most of them are not appropriate for polite conversation." Felicity said saucily.

Lyla grimaced and shook her head, repelling the mental images from her mind.

Felicity laughed at her expression. "Plus, pregnancy hormones."

This time Lyla smiled back widely. "Ah, yes." she said, remembering the ways she used to exploit them when she'd been pregnant with Andy. "Works like a charm every time."

With that she hugged Felicity and said goodbye.

Just before she closed the door to Felicity's office, her head peeked through the door to remind Felicity about Fettuccine Friday and asked her to pass it along to Thea and Roy as well.

Once Lyla was gone, Felicity returned back to her seat and picked up her phone. She had some calls to make.

* * *

They were on their second helping of milkshakes, exchanging stories about work and life and reminiscing about their childhood when Laurel sobered up suddenly.

"Can you tell me a story?" she asked her sister, who'd just taken a particularly loud slurp of her shake (mostly because she knew it would draw attention and embarrass Laurel).

"What story?" Sara asked back, leaning back against the booth.

"I don't know," Laurel shrugged. "About Nyssa. Can you tell me about her? How does one fall in love with an assassin?"

Sara sighed "You can't choose who you love, Laurel."

"I know that... _Trust me, _I know." Laurel replied sadly and Sara knew she must be thinking about Tommy.

So she offered her sister an encouraging smile "How about this: I'll tell you a story about Nyssa if you tell me one about you and Tommy. I still can't believe that you two were a thing! Then again he always had a crush on you." Sara chuckled.

It did the trick, Laurel brightened up. "You first." She said, pointing her finger at Sara.

Sara closed her eyes for a moment, trying to think about a proper story to tell her sister that wouldn't reveal League secrets.

"The League doesn't believe in dummies and fake weapons, " Sara said "you either wield the real thing and defend yourself or the real thing gets to meet a vital part of your body." She said flippantly, used to the League ways by now. "So naturally, the recruits' training is harsh and brutal. You're considered luck if you have one body part that makes it out without bruises or worse."

Sara glanced up to see that her sister had gone pale. She reached out and grabbed her hand. "It gets better, I swear," she smiled reassuringly.

"Anyway, at this point I've been with the League for seven months but I was still having some trouble adjusting to their code. I was picking up the physical stuff quickly enough. Dad's training helped some, plus I could hold my own after spending one year guarding prisoners on the freighter and another one with Ollie on the island. But this one day, I was tired and distracted and I was wounded in combat. Got a stab wound in my side, because I wasn't paying attention to my opponent." Sara paused, closing her eyes as the memory hit her.

Laurel squeezed her hand silently.

When she opened her eyes, Sara focused them on her half empty glass of white Milkshake.

"By this point Nyssa and I were spending a lot of time together. We'd grown close and she was the only person I could trust in that place, not only because she'd saved me from drowning. To the League, she was _Heir to the Demon, _with me she was just Nyssa. She was so compassionate and was so curious about the outside world, despite growing up surrounded by death. She took it upon herself to teach me the ways of the League and Arabic, in exchange I told her about the outside world and what people are like. Any semblance of good memories I have from that period in my life are tied to her. Anyway, Nyssa was in charge of our training and she saw me get hurt. It was a deep wound and it was bleeding a lot. Nyssa was furious, I'd never seen her like this. She would have killed the recruit then and there had he not fallen to his knees to ask for her mercy. She carried me to her chambers herself, even though I insisted I could walk. A healer was waiting for us by the time we arrived and Nyssa never left my side as he treated me. She held my hand and I just felt _safe._ I felt _at peace_ even though I had been stabbed. I think that's when I realized just how much she means to me."

Sara was wiping tears from her eyes by the time she was done talking, a bitter-sweet smile on her face. She looked up from her shake to find her sister in a similar state.

Laurel sniffled, before dabbing the corners of her eyes with a napkin. She was crushed that her little sister had to know such pain, but then she was glad that she at least had someone to protect and support her through it all. If she put aside Nyssa's attempt on her life and the kidnapping of her mother, Laurel could maybe come to think of Nyssa with something other than distaste, because the woman had protected Sara when Laurel couldn't and that was something Laurel would always be grateful for.

"My turn," she smiled ruefully at her sister "One night when Tommy was at the club, I was folding laundry and as I was putting it away I came across something in his underwear drawer. It was a ring. I am almost certain it was his mother's, but I never asked." Laurel said, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out slowly.

"Tommy and I were moving very quickly through our relationship, one moment we were nothing but friends with reccuring benefits, then other we were dating and the next he was living with me... You know me, I like to plan, I like to know where I'm going, but Tommy was like a whirlwind. He sucked me in and I had no idea when he would let go or where I'll land. For once, I was okay with that. I liked it even. Because it felt right, it felt so right, Sara... I think I spent a good half hour sitting on our bed, staring at that ring. I had so many questions was this ring for me or did he just keep it away from his dad? Was he going to propose? When was he going to propose? How was he going to propose? Was he going to be all goofy about it or was he going to be serious?" Laurel's voice was quiet, as she reminisced.

"I was speechless. Because I've only had one serious relationship before him and that was Ollie... I always had to push for the next step with him, always had to watch him freak out and do something stupid. Short of asking me to be his girlfriend he rarely - if ever - took the initiative when it came to the important decisions..." Laurel paused for a moment, she didn't like remembering that time of her life "But you know about that... So to have Tommy be willing to take this step with me, so soon into our relationship, even though we hadn't really broached the subject before, to see him _committed_ to _us_ just as much as I was - a man who, on paper, was just like Ollie... If I weren't sure that I loved him until then, then that moment certainly put things into perspective for me. I loved him so much, Sara, he made me happier than I've ever been. I've never smiled more than I have with him..." Laurel was openly crying by now.

Sara moved quickly across the booth and wrapped an arm around her sister.

"I'm so sorry, Laur," Sara whispered against her hair. "I wish I could have seen the two of you together. I'm sure that he's very proud of you and that he's watching over you, wherever he is."

Sara held her sister until she calmed down. It hurt her to see Laurel like this, but she knew that her she was probably keeping it all in and that wasn't healthy.

Laurel pulled away eventually, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I meant for this to be fun, I'm sorry." she said with a watery smile.

Sara shook her head "I am here for you, Laurel, always. You have nothing to apologize for."

Whatever Laurel was about to say in response got cut off by the ringing of Sara's phone.

Sara would have ignored it completely had it not been for the ringtone. Her Felicity ringtone for their _special_ _play-dates. _

"I'm sorry, I have to take this, it's Felicity and she wouldn't call me on this number if it wasn't important." Sara apologized, reaching for her phone.

Laurel nodded silently, understanding Sara's hint. "I'll go settle the tab. This one's on me. You can get it next time." With a quick kiss to Sara's temple she got up and left to pay their tab.

"What's up, Dee?" Sara asked as soon as her sister was out of earshot

"_Canary, something's come up. Sorry to bother you on your day off, but it's top priority and classified. Like Area 51 classified. I need you to meet me at the Foundry ASAP. Not a word to Laurel, please. If at some point she needs to know, I'll clue her in, but I am under strict orders to only include a list of authorized people." _

Sara grabbed her jacket and messenger bag from the empty space next to her. "Gotcha. Be there in 20."

The line disconnected.

* * *

Nyssa al Ghul (or rather Raatko, these days) still wasn't sure how her father agreed to let her settle a League headquarters in Starling. She'd gotten that idea after everything that went down with Al Saher and the mayhem he caused. She told her father that maybe it would be safer for them to have another station on that side of the world that would enable them to deal with any future issues in a much quicker manner, rather than having to waste time and resources on flying all over the world.

How she managed to persuade her father that she was the right person for the job was even a bigger mystery. But he had agreed and dispatched her with a small army of operatives and enough money to create their new base.

It wasn't easy, gaining the trust of these men and women, making them see her as their leader; finding a good place for a base and making sure it's obtained legally and quietly. Adapting to western life and their culture (which she still found very bizarre, even six months into her stay).

She had one comfort through these hardships and that was her Beloved. Sara was there with her every step of the way, the good times and the bad, no matter that she wasn't a League member anymore. Nyssa loved her all the more for it.

Still, as much as she has been surprised by her new life (and how she actually liked it), it was nothing compared to hearing none other than Felicity Smoak, MIT class of '09, speak to her through the phone, asking for her help with a mission and asking her to meet in the Green Arrow's base of operations (and reassuring her that Oliver wouldn't be there).

Curiosity got the better of her and Nyssa found herself walking into the - what was it they called this place? - Foundry an hour later.

* * *

Thea found it very very weird to see Felicity marching into the Foundry like a woman on a mission the middle of the afternoon and ordering Oliver, Roy and John to clear the ground and leave her with Thea.

"Go do some silly macho-man thing, take a break." had been her exact words.

What was even weirder was how quickly she'd shut the boys down when they tried asking why.

Felicity's Smoak's Loud Voice wreaked havoc even on fully grown, grumpy, lethal men twice her size.

Thea loved seeing it in action (as long as it wasn't directed at her).

"What just happened?" Thea asked her as soon as the Foundry door slammed behind the guys.

Felicity turned to her with a smile "I have a mission for you, how do you feel about helping me and Sara out?"

Thea grinned widely at her sister-in-law. She felt very very good about it.

Only Felicity wouldn't give her any details until "the others" got here. Who the others were, Thea had no idea. To her knowledge Felicity worked with the Lance sisters. So it wasn't a surprise when Sara arrived first. Only Laurel wasn't with her and from the few sentences Sara and Felicity exchanged it seemed like she wasn't coming at all. So why did Felicity say "others"? Who else was there?

She was pretty sure her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets when none other than Nyssa al Ghul walked into the Foundry, looking all business in her civil clothes. She greeted everyone with a polite smile and headed straight for Sara.

Apparently, they weren't done, because ten minutes later Lyla walked in like a woman on a mission.

"I'm sure you are all wondering what you're doing here and why we've highjacked Green Arrow's base of operations for this meeting, but we needed a safe space to talk with no outside ears or eyes." Felicity said as way of greeting to everyone.

"Thea, Nyssa, you are aware of the project Sara and I have going on, I'm sure, but this is something that we can't handle on our own so I figured why not ask for your help. Lyla asked me with help on a very delicate mission, but I think she'd be best to explain everything and give you the details."

With that, Felicity took a seat and Lyla stepped forward, launching into an explanation of the mission and everything it would entail.

By the end of it, Thea was basically vibrating with excitement. This was some James Bond level shit and she personally, couldn't wait.

"So, I think now would be the right time to ask you if you're on board with this?" Lyla finished her speech and sat back down.

Thea was the first to nod enthusiastically and agree. Nyssa and Sara exchanged a look before Sara announced she's in and Nyssa followed with a slow nod of her head.

"In that case, ladies," Felicity smiled widely at them, "Welcome to Task Force X 2,0″

"The Assassin they are going to hire," Nyssa spoke for the first time since she the meeting started. "Do you know anything about them?" her eyes shifted to look at Lyla.

"Not much. My agents were only able to intercept two words in Chinese: Hóu Zhǐ (猴 紙). Apparently it means Paper Monkey." Lyla answered.

Sara and Nyssa both stiffened at that. Their heads turned towards one another in complete sync.

"Shiva"

**To be Continued...**

* * *

_**I am sorry to leave it at that, but it really seemed like the best place to cut it off.**_

_**Also, the Chinese (Traditional) is from Google Translate so I apologize for any inaccuracies in the transcription or symbols. If there is indeed a mistake please let me know, I'll be more than happy to fix it.**_

_**I hope you enjoyed the bonding and that you'll enjoy the next part, too.**_

_**I can't put into words how excited I am about all of this! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter.**_

"_Shiva_"


	5. Task Force X part 1: Mayhem in Markovia

**Hi everyone, I know it's been almost 6 months since I last updated. I apologize. Life has been super crazy and busy. Between my eye condition (that relapsed), summer job, move to the UK, Uni, assignments and now a new job, I don't have much free time.**

**You're getting an extra long 6k+ chapter that gave me some grief, but I hope it was worth the wait.**

**For the sake of the chapter - dialogue in Italics means that whoever is speaking is doing so over comms and is not present at the scene at hand.**

**Diaglogue presented like this: "" and also in Italics means that the speaker is speaking a language other than English. It'll make sense when you get to that point.**

**Happy reading (If there's anyone left that's interested, that is).**

**Some were asking about Lyla's nickname: I know that "Mockingbird" is Waller's nickname. In this AU - "Mockingbird" is the nickname assigned to the head of ARGUS - aka Lyla Michaels.**

* * *

The private A.R.G.U.S. jet was rumbling in the distance as the newly assembled Task Force X and their families and friends said goodbye to each other.

Lyla, Andy and John were huddled together to the right end of the group. Sara and Nyssa were talking to Laurel and, surprisingly Quentin, who came to see them off. Sara had just told them that their attention and expertise was needed overseas, since Lyla had asked all of them to keep the mission a secret. From the look on the Captain's face, Felicity was pretty sure he was lecturing Sara on safety. Nyssa seemed to be making small talk with Laurel, if the slightly pained expression on her face was any indication.

Beside her - Oliver and Roy were fussing over Thea. Roy was giving her all sorts of tips on how to incapacitate someone who caught her by surprise, while Oliver was hovering protectively and chiming in every now and then with his own two cents on the matter. Thea caught her gaze and rolled her eyes, causing Felicity to laugh. It's like they forgot that Thea composed one fifth of Team Arrow…

The A.R.G.U.S. pilot showed up at the top of the plane's stairs and Felicity knew it was time to go. She rescued Thea from her brother and boyfriend and together they walked towards the Lances.

"Thea, be careful out there, you hear?" Felicity squeezed her hand tightly as they approached Sara and Nyssa.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Thea winked at her "someone has to teach this kid about Ollie's weak spots." They'd stopped walking and Thea pulled Felicity into a hug.

"Sara, "Felicity called out gently once they were no more than a couple of steps away from them.

The other blond looked up and nodded at her friend, her expression turning sombre immediately.

"We need to go." Sara told her father and sister, giving each a quick hug, before facing Oliver and Roy who had followed the girls.

"Keep an eye on the wife, you hear?" Sara said, hugging Oliver tightly.

He chuckled "You mean, stop her if she starts hocking?"

Felicity huffed loudly at that, feigning offence, but before she could utter a word her hands were full of a 5'5" assassin.

"Don't squish her!" Oliver exclaimed "Tiny human on board, remember?"

Sara laughed and turned her attention to Felicity's midsection "Don't grow too much while I'm gone, baby girl, and give your mom a break from the bathroom floor."

Felicity rolled her eyes at her friend, good naturedly. Sara was beyond certain that the baby was a girl and there was no swaying her.

"It's going to be a boy, Sara." Oliver said just to rile her up.

"Not with your luck, Ollie, mark my words – I'm getting a god-daughter."

"Be careful, Tweety, don't do stupid things." Felicity grabbed her hand and squeezed tightly.

Sara patted her on the back lightly, rubbing gentle circles on her right shoulder afterwards " Can't do stupid things when you're in my ear yelling at me not to." she chuckled "You worry too much. We'll be fine."

To their left Diggle said goodbye as well. "Be careful out there, don't be you, please. Sweetie."

He kissed the top of Lyla's head.

"You only call me 'Sweetie' when you want something." Lyla chuckled.

"I want you to come home in one, big, breathing piece, you hear?"

"Roger that." Lyla smiled and leaned forward to press a kiss to their daughter's cheek.

"Be a good girl for Daddy while I'm gone, okay Andrea? Give him lots and lots of hugs for me" Lyla hugged her tightly, never breaking eye contact with her husband.

That's how Felicity, Nyssa, Thea and Sara found them with the rest of the group trailing several steps behind.

Lyla gave Andrea back to John with one last kiss to each and turned her attention to her team.

Felicity handed them all a comm link. "These don't come off. I don't care what is going on, you do not turn them off. You do not take them out." her gaze travelled to each and every one of them, accentuating her words with her "all-business" glare. "Do it and you'll have my Loud Voice to answer to and worse".

"Ooh! I'm scared, maybe you should go face Shiva instead," Sara teased Felicity good naturedly.

Thea patted Sara's shoulder "Clearly you've never been on the receiving end of it. Just ask the boys. They know what's what."

Lyla fidgeted next to Nyssa, which Felicity noticed and hurried to reassure her friend.

"We've gone through the plan a thousand times. It's going to be okay." Felicity reached for Lyla's hand and squeezed it in reassurance.

"If it all goes according to plan." Lyla remarked dryly.

"Which rarely, if evr, happens" Thea added.

"Which is basically where all the fun is." Sara said with a grin

With that she took Thea and Nyssa by the hands and led them towards the plane, with Lyla following behind them.

"Abercrombie!" Sara called out just outside the cabin entrance

Roy groaned at the nickname, damn Sin and her big mouth. He'll make sure to call her Cindy for a month for that.

"Keep an eye on our girl for me, will you?"

Roy opted to just nod silently at Sara. Of course he'd keep an eye on her. That wasn't even a question.

Quentin approached Felicity as they watched their friends and family board the small private airplane.

"Sometimes I worry about how flippant she is about danger" he told Felicity quietly.

Felicity turned to face him with a soft smile "Don't let that fool you, Sara is always aware of what she's getting herself into. She just happens to enjoy beating the shit out of scumbags. Don't mistake that for carelessness."

"Besides,"Oliver chimed in "when Sara gets serious about a situation that means she's beyond furious."

Roy and Digg nodded from their place next to Oliver, each of them recalling such an instant in their time working with Sara. Personally, Roy would rather go ten rounds with an angry Oliver than be subjected to Canary's wrath.

All of them watched the plane take off and quickly disappear from view in the sheet of clouds above.

"I don't suppose any of you will go home and wait for updates if I ask you to, would you?" Felicity asked everyone.

No one said a word.

She sighed, turning on her heel, and started walking towards the car

"Testosterone Tuesday it is." she murmured under her breath as the rest of the group trailed behind her.

* * *

If the situation had been any less serious, Sara would have made fun of the ever stoic and unaffected Nyssa for pacing around the small plane like a caged tigress.. She did know better, however, so she wisely kept her mouth shut. They had a thirteen-hour flight ahead of them and getting into an argument wouldn't do any of them any favours. Their mission aside, Sara was aware of the heavier, more personal matters that weighed on Nyssa where her former mentor was concerned.

Lady Shiva, the world's greatest martial artist and assassin, has been brought into the League by Ra's al Ghul himself as a trainer for his only heir. Shiva had honed Nyssa's skills fiercely and brutally, disregarding her age, gender or physical abilities. Failure was not an option where Shiva was concerned. Failure meant death.

She'd stayed with the League for years, till the time Sara had joined the League and developed a friendlier relationship with Nyssa. Something Shiva was very much against.

"Friends are weakness. They dull your edge. Take away from your focus." she'd say, glaring at Sara, who even with her limited and broken Arabic could understand.

Nyssa had been the perfect student for years so Shiva had taken her disobedience as a personal insult. When Nyssa had stood up for Sara one day and talked back to her mentor, Shiva had offered both of them only a cold, unfeeling, gaze, and she'd walked away. Stopping only long enough to say that this new softness in Nyssa will be the death of her one day.

With Shiva gone, Ra's had been furious, but Nyssa weathered her father's storm. She'd stood tall and proud. Sara had tried to distance herself from her, at first, having taken her words Shiva's words to heart, but Nyssa had quickly put a stop to that. Insisting that, even if her old mentor was right, Nyssa liked being with Sara. She liked having a friend. She liked the idea of finding out who she was beyond her father's wishes for her.

Sara wasn't sure that seeing Shiva again would be good for either of them. She'd only be more determined to finish her mission. Yet, she couldn't let Nyssa face her alone. Shiva had a very long memory and was very proud, Sara was willing to bet she would never actually forgive Nyssa for disobeying her orders. Personally, she could go without facing her, but neither Lyla nor Thea, as expert fighters as they are, are good enough to face Shiva and live. So that leaves her.

Behind her, Lyla and Thea were pouring over the palace's schematics. Charts and maps were strewn all over the place. Luckily for them the place wasn't too big and the two of them should have the prince out of harm's way relatively quickly. The building they had to infiltrate was the former Royal summer residence, located on Markovia's seaside. This fact made things easier and more complicated at the same time. For one, it definitely aided their "surprise factor" and would make their escape easier since they won't be waltzing through the front doors. For another, they would have to jump into the sea from the plane at a distance that would not alert their enemies of their arrival. What's more, their pilot would have to fly away and then return at an exact time to pick them up.

Sara didn't like that. It gave them a very short time frames to fix things if the plan went awry. Nine out of ten plans blew up in their faces, Felicity had done the math once.

"Falcon, Canary," Lyla called out to them.

Nyssa and Sara both approached her wordlessly and came to a stop at the back of her recliner.

"Artemis and I will be headed inside on arrival, that means the two of you will have to scope out the grounds and locate Shiva." Lyla explained, still hunched over the map.

"_There's a problem with that plan, Mockingbird." _Felicity's voice rang in their ears. _"Sorry to throw a last minute wrench in the plan, but we did not expect him to be at the summer residence. We planned to have to extract him from the Presidential palace._"

"Why is that a problem?" Nyssa's tone was a bit clipped as she spoke for the first time since they boarded the plane.

"_I just pulled some satelite footage of the place. The grounds are about ten times the size of the actual building. That's a lot of work for two people, trying not to get busted and simultaneously find a top notch assassin for hire all while working on a tight schedule. I'm sending the photos now"_

Sara groaned.

So much for their plan.

Lyla cursed as soon as they got a good look at the place they were supposed to infiltrate. Felicity was right. There was no way the two of them could cover all that ground, find Shiva, stop the assassination **and** make it to the rendezvous point in time.

"Alright." Thea sighed. "Let's make a new plan." her voice and demeanor was a lot calmer than she (and everybody else) expected what with her genetic Queen Family Flair for Dramatics.

"Mockingbird, you said the summer residence wasn't too big… What if we did a one person extraction team and have three people scouting the outside. I believe you have a sniper?" she addressed Lyla.

The older woman nodded silently, waiting to see where Thea was taking this.

"Great. One takes the sniper and heads to the roof. The western tower here," she pointed at the image. "That's the highest point around and it'll give the best vantage point."

"And we should assume that Shiva would make use of it also." Nyssa interjected.

"What about this thing here? Devorah, what's behind the western tower?" Sara asked, squinting at the image.

The sound of fingers tapping against a keyboard filled their ears and then Felicity exhaled in triumph.

"_You're in luck. It took some digging - these guys seriously need to update their systems and get online - it's an old chimney. I'm thinking kitchen. Regardless of the room it belongs to, it's not in use, so you don't have to worry about getting choked to death by fumes." _

Thea smiled widely at the news. "So one of us heads up there with the sniper and starts looking around. Another two head on foot around the ground and the last one heads inside to extract the prince."

Sara grimaced as her old concerns resurfaced. "That doesn't really leave us with much choice."

"Why not?" Thea asked.

It was Nyssa who answered her instead: "Canary and I have personal knowledge of how Shiva operates. We know her methods, tricks and mind games. She loves those. That gives us an advantage that the two of you," she motioned at Lyla and Thea "don't have."

"That's fair." Lyla agreed.

"_The chimney top looks like a pretty small space. Thea is the smallest out of you all." _

"But Thea is not good with a sniper. I'm more about swords, escrima sticks and arrows" Thea interjected.

"_Talking about yourself in third person is your brother's thing and for the record, it's no less creepy when you do it." _

Everyone save for Nyssa chuckled at that since they could all recall at least one such moment with Oliver.

"So Mockingbird takes the chimney and Artemis goes on the hunt?" Nyssa summed up.

"As soon as we have Shiva, I can go lend a hand inside." Lyla offered.

Plan B it is. If only it would stick.

* * *

Felicity groaned, leaning back in her chair as she rubbed her face. Technically the mission hadn't even started yet and she was already stressed beyond belief.

At least they'd agreed on a plan quickly enough. Thea's idea was excellent. In theory. In practice - it sounded like something out of Mission Impossible.

Everyone had followed her back to the Foundry, against her wishes that they go home and ask for updates. That resulted in a cramped, stuffy and stressed environment. Felicity had told them in no uncertain terms that they will occupy themselves with whatever they see fit and not bother her. They were to remain at least six feet away from her workstation at all times and not hover. When she had news, she'd share.

Fortunately, they'd complied with her requests with minimal grumbling.

"Laurel," Felicity called out, head still leaning at the backrest of her chair.

As soon as she was standing behind her, Felicity turned in her chair and looked at the woman. "I know this is not exactly your field of expertise but I need someone to dig around and check just how much of a mess it will be if the mission goes sideways. Chances of international scandal, possible declaration of war. That sort of thing."

Four heads turned towards them the moment she was done talking, their faces ranging from shock, to concern, to downright anxiety.

"Are you expecting any of that to happen?" Lance asked from his place on the couch where he'd been catching up on paperwork.

"Not for now." Felicity shook her head. "But better be safe than sorry. I'd rather we know the scale of the fallout we're facing before we get in over our heads. Plus, I'm going to make some contingency extraction plans while the girls are still in the air. Just in case."

"No offence, Blondie, but this whole mission is you getting in over your heads" Roy interjected as he, Oliver, and Digg approached her station from where they'd been sparring on the training mats.

There was a pause where Felicity first sent a withering glare towards her friend and then that glare turned into mirth,

"Thea asked me to tell you that you get three days on the couch for doubting our abilities to get this done." she snickered at the dumbfounded look on his face.

"You're making that up!" he accused her.

"Whatever you say… _Lustmuffin_." she couldn't help the laughter that rolled off her tongue at the last word.

Roy went pale, rooted in place.

Oliver looked like someone had just made him eat a whole lemon, whereas Diggle was barely holding in his own laughter.

"You tell her… She gets back alive from this… I'm gonna kill her myself." Roy spluttered before storming back towards the training dummies.

"She can hear you" Felicity called after him between her giggles.

She really needed that moment of levity before all hell broke loose. Soon enough though it was all back to business.

"Right, where was I?" she asked, addressing Laurel.

"You were going to ask me to do something."

Felicity nodded. "Yes, I'll need you to poke around the system and ask about discreetly among your contacts - because I do know you know people who are pretty high up the food chain - what the _hypothetical _fallout in such a situation will be. Can you do that?"

Laurel bit her lip, the furrow in her brow betraying her uncertainty. "Like you said, this is not exactly my area of expertise, but I can most definitely try. We're a team right? I need to pull my own weight."

Felicity smiled at her. "Thank you, Laurel."

She'd been worried that things between them might be awkward for more reasons than the obvious one, but so far she'd been pleasantly surprised. She only hoped that they continued to work so well in the future as well.

"I'll let you know as soon as I know something."

"How about I reach to some of my own contacts?" Diggle asked as Laurel headed towards the couch to gather her things. "Military and otherwise"

Catching up to his meaning, Felicity nodded quickly. It was honestly a good idea and it would get him out of the foundry for a while. Win-win.

With a small smile and a pat on Oliver's shoulder, John turned to Laurel.

"Come on, I'd drop you off at the D.A.'s office"

Once the door shut behind them, the only noise in the foundry was Roy's rhythmic hits to the training dummy.

"Now what?" Oliver asked. approaching Felicity.

"Now we wait." Felicity sighed.

"And if you could get your child a chocolate milkshake and cheesy fries, that would be great." she added as an afterthought.

* * *

As previously stated, Sara hated swimming and being wet. Damn near drowning twice in less than two years will do that to you.

She wasn't a big fan of the dark and cold either. Used to it? - yes, unfortunately, but definitely not a fan.

And yet they swam their way to the shore with something that could only be described as military grade glow sticks between their teeth to light their way.

Oh and let's not forget the waterproof equipment bag over her shoulder. Had it been up to her, she would have jumped in her leathers, but what with leather creaking when wet she couldn't very well do that.

It took them about twenty minutes to reach the shore. They found a remote, secluded corner of the beach where they could change into their uniforms and check their weapons and ammo.

"_Coast is clear for now." _Felicity told them _"Both figuratively and literally. You have about three hours. Now go!" _

The only good thing that came from the ridiculously long flight was that each of them had enough time to memorize their area.

"Birds, this is one rendezvous point you don't want to be late for." Lyla told them all just before they parted.

"Happy hunting." Thea murmured before taking a right and disappearing through the bushes.

Nyssa and Sara took a left towards the grounds and Lyla followed after Thea, sniper at the ready.

* * *

Felicity hadn't been this focused since she'd built that computer virus back in college. She had different satellite footage on each of her four screens - one for each team member. Her eyes were constantly flicking from one monitor to another, surveying the situation and trying to make out hostiles in the dark terrain.

Why were they doing this in the middle of the night again?

Potential hostile territory. Right.

"Action's about to start, if you wanna watch." Felicity said over her shoulder to the rest of the people in the Foundry.

Laurel, Diggle, and Lance, who had been pouring over the information Digg had brought along from his informants in order to lighten Felicity's load some, all looked up from the papers and stood up to approach the computers.

Roy and Oliver came over as well.

"Artemis, hold your position." Felicity said, her eyes trained on Thea's monitor as she caught a guard patrolling about fifteen feet from her.

"_Mockingbird in position" _ Lyla called in just then, and Felicity's eyes flickered momentarily towards Lyla's monitor to see her on top of the chimney and lying on her stomach, squinting into the sniper binoculars.

"Good. Focus on trying to locate Shiva. I'll handle Artemis' infiltration into the house." Felicity replied.

"_I wouldn't object to Deadshot's eye thing right about now, just saying." _Lyla huffed.

"Somehow I don't think it's worth the sacrifice of a perfectly good eye." Felicity said.

"_Northwestern corner is clear." _\- Sara.

"_Nothing up north either" _\- Nyssa.

Felicity proceeded to mark their locations as irrelevant for the time being and listened to them continue their trek through the palace gardens.

"_Artemis, you're clear to proceed. Guard is currently at your three but he can't see you. Go!" _

They watched Thea sneak her way past the back entrance porch. There was a loud crunch on the comm and Thea cursed.

"_Whew, that was close. All good though, I climbed a beam." _

Indeed, Thea was perched on a wooden beam just above the entrance. She was just about to go in when she heard the guard closest to her say something in his radio and then head back her way again.

"Mockingbird?"

"_Nothing yet"_

"Canary, Falcon, what's happening on your front?"

"_Nothing here, Devorah, my end of the grounds is pretty open and unsuitable for a stakeout or vantage point"_ Nyssa said.

"Okay, go meet up with Canary and help her out." Felicity said.

She listened to the two of them converse in Arabic and then a groan came over the comm that sounded remarkably like Thea.

She froze when her eyes zeroed in on Thea's screen.

The guard was right below her and from the looks of it he had no intentions of moving… and still on the radio. Thea couldn't get the drop on him without altering the rest of the security.

"Thea, do not move, do not breathe." Felicity urged her silently, her brain running all the possible outcomes. A frighteningly low percent of them actually ended well.

Next thing she knows. the guard crumples to the ground.

"_I believe that solves it" _Lyla's voice cut through the silence. _"You'll have to hide the body, Artemis. We can't have him discovered."_

"Is he dead?" Felicity asked.

"_Tranq darts." _Lyla said as way of explanation.

"_Thank god, I was starting to lose feeling in my legs" _Thea exhaled in relief.

She plopped gracefully back on the ground and dragged the guard into the nearest, darkest set of shrubbery.

"_Geez, what do they feed them over here? Lead oatmeal?"_ Thea groaned, straightening up once the guard was disposed of into what looked like an empty supply closet.

"Artemis, focus." Felicity chided Thea over the comms.

Thea huffed in response and reached towards her back to pull out her swords.

"_I'm focused. Where is the target?" _

A quick check of satelite heat signatures gave Felicity the answer she needed.

"The top floor is most heavily populated. From what I can see we're looking at ten guards and and our target." Felicity supplied.

"_Gonna be fun then. I'm heading up."_ Thea replied quickly_ "I can handle random guards for the time being, check on the others." _

"Mockingbird, there's movement on your nine!" Digg's sharp exclamation echoed around the Foundry.

On the screen, Lyla adjusted her position accordingly and squinted through her sniper lens.

"_I don't see anything," _

"I saw movement, it was quick, but I saw it. There's some kind of shrubbery there." Digg said. "Keep looking."

"_Canary and I got this." _ Nyssa's voice came in.

Several more minutes passed in silence, each person in the foundry was focused on the screen of their family member as Felicity kept her focus split between helping Thea maneuver the palace and the rest of the team to locate Shiva.

"_Canary, Falcon, near the front entrance there's a big damn fountain. It's pretty secluded from the entrance terrace. Is Shiva about 5'8", slim, asian?"_ Lyla's voice broke the tense silence in the foundry.

Canary cursed. Falcon started running faster.

"_Mockingbird, go help Artemis. Do not engage Shiva." _Canary said sharply.

"_Has she spotted you?"_ Falcon asked.

"_Don't think so." _

Nyssa cursed under her breath. She could see the structure Lyla told them about.

"_Not good enough, Mockingbird, make your way inside. We're close, we'll distract her." _

"_Copy that, Falcon. Artemis, how are things on your side?"_ Lyla rose from her position and started taking apart her sniper.

"_First two floors are clear, two more to go and then it's show time."_ Thea told her.

As soon as the words left Thea's mouth, two guards rounded the corner and surprised her, yelling in a language that she didn't even begin to understand.

"_Oh you have got to be kidding me." _Thea whined, raising her swords at the ready.

Lyla started moving faster, tucking the sniper back into the case with a carelessness that would have made her CO in the army cringe.

"_Devorah, I need coordinates on Artemis." _

"Turn 45 degrees south west and head for the second floor." Felicity told her, watching as Lyla pulled out a gun from her weapons' bag.

With that she zipped it closed and threw it over her shoulder.

"_Stained glass window with the lilies?"_ Lyla asked quickly, aiming her gun.

"Yes." Felicity nodded, wondering what on earth Lyla was planning to do.

"_Hey Artemis, "_ Lyla called out. _"DUCK!"_

"_Wha-"_

With that she fired what turned out to be a grappling gun and swung down the line, crashing feet first into the window.

She rolled right into one of the bodyguards and used the weight of her armour bag to knock him down.

Thea stood motionless for a second. "So much for the stealth approach..." she teased.

Lyla stood up, brushing the shards of glass off of her carefully.

Felicity could swear that Diggle – who was standing on her right – whispered "that's my girl" at the sight of his wife.

"_I took a shortcut, you sounded like you were in trouble."_ She shrugged _"besides you and your brother are not the only ones allowed to make a cool entrance." _

Lyla looked around her to see two other men lying unconscious on the ground.

"_Hilt smash."_ Now was Thea's turn to shrug and grin.

"_Nice."_ Lyla chuckled.

The third screen of Felicity's started buzzing with activity.

"Ladies, you've been made." She called out. "You've got six guys headed your way. "

Thea cracked her neck dramatically. Her and Lyla shared a quick look.

"_Any chance we can avoid them?"_ Lyla asked Felicity.

"'Fraid not, Mockingbird. You'll have to fight your way through."

* * *

On the outside Nyssa and Sara caught up with Shiva just as she was about to leave her spot. Lyla's loud crash through the window had alerted her that she had company.

" _Shiva!" _Nyssa called out loudly, causing her ex-mentor to stop.

"_Little Demon," _Shiva's face was impassive when she turned to face Nyssa. "you've brought your pet." she sneered in Sara's direction.

Nyssa stiffened and Sara's reaction to that was to grip her staff tighter, ready to for a fight.

Shiva observed Sara silently and then laughed.

"_Surely you don't think to challenge me, Little Demon. I may have trained you, but you are still no match for me." _

Nyssa gripped her sword tighter. _"I am not alone."_

"_She would hardly be of any help to you"_ Shiva pointed at Sara.

"_Doesn't stop her from trying anyway,"_ Sara interjected with a dry smile.

"_Does your father know what you're up to, Little Demon, I am very doubtful he would agree." _Shiva continued.

At some point during their conversation, if you could call it that, they'd started circling each other slowly.

"_My father stopped being any of your business the minute you turned your back on us."_ Nyssa spat.

Shiva stilled, her expression murderous. _"__**I**__ turned my back, __**on you**__?! How dare you, you insolent, ungrateful, child!_"

She charged and it took all of Nyssa's skill to dodge her attacks so that she wouldn't get thrown down the roof.

Sara charged as well, but before she could so much as have her staff make contact with her opponent, Shiva had turned to face her and gripped the staff in her bare hands.

With a twist that Sara had never seen before the staff was ripped out of her hands and thrown to the side.

"_You were always predictable, At-Taer al-Asfar."_ Shiva sneered, slamming her foot against Sara's chest in a high kick.

Sara flew backwards, hitting the ground. She had trouble breathing, Shiva hit her diaphragm.

Shit.

"_Walk away, Little Demon, this is not your fight."_ Shiva said between aiming kicks and punches at Nyssa.

"_You hurt my beloved, it is every bit my fight." _Nyssa hissed, throwing a dagger at Shiva that was yet again easily blocked.

She wished Thea and Lyla would hurry. She didn't know how long she could keep it up for.

* * *

"Mockingbird, duck!" Thea yelled as she pulled a flechette from her thigh and aimed it at the goon sneaking behind Lyla.

A hit to the waist had Thea stumbling forward and turning around to face attacker number four.

They didn't call her Speedy for nothing. She may be young and small, but that didn't mean she couldn't be deadly.

She attacked, ducking and dodging her opponent as she aimed punches at him. Quick, sharp and to the point.

Beside her she could hear Lyla fighting off two guys at once. Thea was going to have Lyla teach her some tricks when they got back to the States, that much she was certain of.

It took a while, but soon enough both of them had the situation under control.

Lyla was sporting a cut along her thigh and a scratch over her left cheek and Thea had lost one of her swords, that had been tossed outside the window earlier.

They worked surprisingly well together.

"_Everyone alive?"_ Felicity asked.

"Peachy, " Thea replied sarcastically.

"How are the others?" Lyla asked.

"_Holding on, but you guys need to hurry up if you want the plan to work and if you want to make it to the rendezvous point on time."_

_Lyla squared her shoulders. "Four more to go," she told Thea._

"_After you," Thea replied._

They both headed for the staircase at the end of the corridor, while Felicity guided them through the palace. Felicity's initial reading had been correct. There were no more than ten men with the Prince. It seemed that no one also thought to bring in reinforcements. All the better for the team.

"_I don't want to pressure you, but you have one hour till deadline_." Felicity's voice crackled in her ear.

Thea bit back a comeback. Action now. Snark later.

The hallways were blissfully empty up until the top floor. It's the least they deserved for their efforts earlier.

"_Wait!"_ Felicity's yell rooted them in place as soon as they reached the top floor landing.

"_Take a left, there's a small kitchenette that connects to the main room where the prince is. That way you don't have to make a mess."_

Thea and Lyla heeded her advice and turned towards the small kitchen. Surely enough there was a door that led them to the living room.

"Prince Philip," Lyla called out quietly.

The man standing on the opposite side of the room jumped and turned on his heel to face them.

He was in his mid-thirties, probably, and his facial features gave away what his accent and upbringing could not – that is, that he is from the Eastern parts of the world. Slavic.

He was dressed in a dark blue, three-piece suit that in Thea's opinion brought out his eyes and complimented his dark hair.

"Who are you?" He asked, taking a few steps back.

"Your highness, my name is Agent Michaels; I'm with the US government." Lyla spoke slowly and calmly, reaching into her pocket to retrieve her badge. "We have very sound reason to believe that someone ordered an attempt on your life."

"Why should I believe you?!" the prince asked.

"My associate will hand you my badge and a tablet. It's connected to a secure server that would allow you to check my claim."

Lyla put her gun on the floor and reached for the small tablet in the inside of her jacket, ignoring Thea's incredulous look of "where did you put that exactly?"

She handed Thea her id and the tablet and instructed the girl to give them to the prince.

"You will have confirmation in less than ten minutes. After that I'm afraid you'll have to come with us. Your plans for Markovia are admirable and my team and I are here to make sure they happen." Lyla said.

* * *

They managed to land some hits on Shiva but she was still in a much better condition than they were.

Nyssa suspected that at least one of ribs was cracked. Sara's knee was giving her trouble. Both would have bruises that would probably last at least a week after they're done here.

If they get out alive, that is.

Felicity had muted their incoming signal so that they wouldn't get distracted, but right about now, Sara was hoping that there would be some noise on the comms. Noise that would tell them they can execute their plan and get the hell out of there.

She really didn't want to die on a rooftop in some strange enemy country and she sure as hell didn't want to give Shiva the satisfaction of killing them.

It was difficult to fight an opponent that was one of the best martial artists known to man. It was even harder when said opponent could predict your moves based on your body language.

So Nyssa and Sara did what they do best – they teamed up and attacked her in unison.

Sara would go for the front, serving as a distraction and Nyssa would strike from the back or the side. Years of teamwork and partnership ensured that the two assassins worked in sync with one another.

Sara aimed a high kick at Shiva and Nyssa tried to upset her balance when their comms crackled back to life.

"Now!" was the only thing they heard.

"_There is nothing you can do that I can't beat. You are a disgrace to the old ways! Both of you!_" Shiva hissed, charging at Nyssa.

"Beat this!" Sara exclaimed taking a small device from her pocket and throwing it in Shiva's direction.

Nyssa ducked and covered her ears just in time, because once the device touched the ground it released a mighty, deafening shriek.

"_I will kill you!"_ Shiva's threat could barely be heard over the volume of the Canary Cry.

"_We will finish this another time, Shiva"_ Nyssa told her and released the small ball she was holding in her hand.

It collided with the ground, creating a loud bang and a flash worthy of a flash-grenade.

The two assassins hurt and tired as they were, started running as fast as they could towards the beach while they still had a head start on her.

By the time they reached the beach, they could see the plane's lights approaching. Talk about cutting it close.

Thea was the first to spot them.

"Hurry up! We need to get going."

Sara really hated swimming. She hated it even more with bruised or cracked ribs and in her leathers.

* * *

Felicity leaned back in her chair and exhaled.

That was intense. Way more intense than she was used to.

She was really scared for Sara and Nyssa for a while there. And then the prince was being all reluctant and suspicious.

"Lyla contacted me, they're all on the plane and headed back for the States. Target included. Barring any complication they should be here in about 12 to 13 hours." She told the others.

The relief on everyone's faces was palpable.

"Sara's alright?" Quentin asked.

Felicity nodded. "She has some black and blues going on but it's nothing she can't handle. Nyssa is worse, I think. She took the major brunt of the assassin. Thea and Lyla both have some scratches on them and some superficial wounds that shouldn't be cause for concern." She explained.

"Everyone is as okay as it could be expected. Go get some rest and we'll see them in the morning."

Slowly, they all filtered out of the foundry. Digg took Roy home and the Lances went back to Laurel's.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked Felicity as they were turning the systems off and putting their coats on.

"I need a really long, hot bath with these salts you got me for Chrismukkah... oh and a back rub. Which means you'll be getting in with me." Felicity told him, sounding tired now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off.

She yawned, prompting Oliver to pick her up.

"You're tired, you're growing a human, take a nap until we get home. Let me take care of you." Oliver said when Felicity started protesting.

"I don't want to hear about international missions or even Central City for at least a month." Felicity murmured before succumbing to much needed sleep

* * *

I have the next chapter planned and it will focus on Laurel since so far the missions have been Sara and Felicity heavy. These two would be in the chapter as well, of course, but Laurel is going to be the A story for a change. I've got great things planned for her.

That being said, I'm not very satisfied with the group fight scenes, but in my defence, fighting is not my forte and group scenes are a lot easier to envision than to describe.

Any and all feedback is appreciated. Please don't be shy. It's important to me.


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